Monday July 7, 2014
For Immediate Release
Pinawa, MB – Members of IAM Local Lodge 608 have ratified a new two-year collective agreement with Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL).
“We finally attained wage parity with the sister company in Chalk River, Ontario which is something our members have been striving for over the last number of contracts,” explained IAM District Lodge 181 Directing Business Representative Wayne Relf. “This parity translates into a pay increase of up to an additional 5 per cent for some of the members.”
The agreement provides for wage increases of 1.5 per cent in each year. Other agreement highlights include :
• Boot allowance increase of up to $200.00 every 18 months or more often as required
• Medical Certification for drivers paid by the company
• Increased Banked overtime allotment
• Entrenching of Coffee Breaks
• Hot Skills Premium
• Retention bonus for designated personnel
• Work Safety Glasses (prescription and on-prescription) paid by company
“This committee worked diligently to assure fairness to all trades represented by the IAM at this facility,” explained Relf. “In the end we were given a ‘final offer’ by the company that was taken back to the membership to decide if it was acceptable. It passed ratification by a margin of more than 80 per cent.”
The 75 members work at AECL's Whiteshell Laboratories (WL), located 100 km northeast of Winnipeg, Manitoba. This is where AECL pioneered the development of dry storage containment facilities for used nuclear fuel, a – technology that is now in use throughout the world. The site, which was operated from 1961 to 1997, has now been decommissioned.
The IAM also represents 65 members of IAM Local Lodge 562 at the AECL facility at Chalk River, Ontario. Those members maintain the nuclear reactors which produce nuclear isotopes for the health care sector.
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For further information:
Wayne Relf – IAM District Lodge 181 Directing Business Representative
204-988-3111/204-793-8944
Bill Trbovich – IAM Director of Communications
416-386-1789 Ext #6331/416-735-9765